


t^* * * * ■ * 




a^lfclfc Ai> A A.<fc A A>^ 



>i.4 * *i A ^<>ihJi<iA*i<l*<ii4Ai>i^>''-*--*--^*--*--*-'*--^ -'-■*■-*• <biA 



Keep this Book for future Reference. 

PLAIN WORDS 




-ABOUT- 



PATENTS 



-FACTS FOR- 



INVENTORS, PATENTEES & MANUFACTURERS. 

— RELATING TO— 

Inventions, Caveats, Patents, Trade-Marks, Labels, De- 
signs, Copyrights, Reissues, and Foreign Patents and ,^.^ 
Trade-Marks; also. Extracts from recent Important -^ 
Decisions of U. S. Supreme and Circuit Courts f i 

and of the Commissioner of Patents .toiM"^- 
ing the rights of Inventors and Patentees. 



^/r~ 



-BY— 



E.B. STOCKING, 

-ATTORN EY-AT-LAW.- 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 



ALL PREVIOUS PAMPHLETS WITHDllAWN. 



<99wmmm9^W99WW^ y TTy y TT-^ 





► .^'ty / 






This book is often sent (with certain portio^xS 
marked) to correspondents, as a respectful answer 
to inquiries, especially when more information can 
thus be given than within the limits of an ordinary 
letter. 

If you find the marked passages either insufficient 
or not clearly applicable to your case^ do not hesi- 
tate to write for further and more satisfactory in- 
formation. General information is cheerfully given 
without charge. See Index, inside of back cover, 
^^General Information." 

ALL CORRESPONDENCE STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. 

Don't try to remember the street and number, 
but tell your friends that all the address they need 
is 

E. B. STOCKING, Attorney, 

Washington, D C. 



Copyrighted 1885. 



1 



PLSIN WORDS 



ABOUT 



<^PA 



H 




-BY- 



E. B. STOCKING. 

ATTORN EY-AT- LAW, 

Patent Practice Exclusively. 

•v^.A.si3:iisrc3-xoisr, id, o 



6^^- 



/ 

io 



Ten years experience In the solicitation of American and 

Foreign Patents and in matters relating to Patents 

and Property Rights in Inventions. Four years 

% tnember of the Examining Corps of the U. S, Patent Office, 



3?? 



I^/EJIFEI^EItTOES. ' 



This pocket reference book will undoubtedly be 
received by persons unacquainted with^me, and I 
therefore, by permission^ mention the following ref- 
erences: 

Hon. Frank Hiscock, M. C , 25th Dist. K Y. 
Hon. Ezra B. Taylor, M. C, 19th Pist. Ohio, 
Hon. F. B. Brewer, M. C, 33d Dist. K Y. 



(^- 





1 Call Attention to the Following Extracts from 
Correspondence : 



House of Representatives^ 

Washington^ D. C, Jan. 7lh^ 1885. 
E. B. Stocking, Esq., 

My Dear Sir: — The care and pi^omptness which 
you have exercised in prosecuting patent matters 
which I have placed in your hands for my friends 
and constituents, warrants me in commending you 
to the confidence and patronage of any who may 
have business of that nature. 

F. B. BREWER, M, C, 

33d District^ N, ¥. 



Office of Golding & Co., 
"Manufacturers of Presses and Printers' Supplies. 

Fort Hill Square, 
Boston Mass, July l^th^ 1884.. 
E. B. Stocking, Esq., Washington, D. C, 

Dear Sir: — I regard you as very thorough in the 
preparation of cases for the Patent Office, and unusu- 
ally successful in securing what you claim. 
Respectfully, 

WILLIAM H. GOLDING. 



// 



4 ^ e. b. stocking^ attorney^ 

Office of E Morrison, 

Sole Manufacturer and Dealer in 

The Morrison & Herron Paper Tester, 

805 D Street, 

Washington^ D. C, January 20th 1885. 

E, B. Stocking, Attorney, Washington, D. C.^ 

SiR:^ — Your services in onr behalf in securing sev- 
eral United States Patents and Foreign Patents in 
several difterent countries have '>een entirely satis- 
factory, and we are pleased with the skill with 
which you have conducted the business, and take 
pleasure in recommending yon to our friends and 
acquamtances having anj' business connected with 
patents or inventions. 

We also owe you special thanks for the skilful 
presentation of the working and results produced 
by our machine for testing paper and other fabrics, 
and the extremely severe tests to which you sub- 
jected the same at the request of the Postmaster 
General of the United States in his presence, and 
in the presence of several paper manufacturers. 
You are aware that the Postmaster General revoked 
contracts involving thousands of dollars, and has 
since refused to receive supplies of envelof)es &c,, 
and that he bases his actions wholly upon the skil- 
ful detection by our machine of fault in the quality 
of supplies furnished the Government. We men- 
tion this to show that you are not only skilful in 
Patent Practice, but also have tiiat practical riie- 
chanical ability, Avhich is so essential to a success- 
ful attorney. Yours truly, 

E. MORRISON, 
JAMES P. HERR ON. 



WASHINGTON, D. C, 6 

PouLTNEY, Vt., January 13th, 1885- 

E. B. Stocking, Esq., Washington, D. (/., 

Deab- Sir: — An experience of many years as an 
inventor and manufacturer, together with the ex- 
perience gained vi\ a long and expensive law suit 
has shown me the importance of securing good pro- 
tection for my inventions, and has led me to be- 
lieve that the best work in the end will prove the 
cheapest. 

It is now nearly a year since I first employed you 
professionally, and during that time you have se- 
cured five patents for me and one for a friend, be- 
sides doing a good deal of other work in patent 
matters for me, with all of which I have been well 
pleased. 

I have fouhd you very thorough in drawing spec- 
ifications and claims, atid very persistent and faith- 
ful in prosecuting them before the Patent Office, 
and very careful in making amendments when you 
have been convinced that the same should be 
made. 

To all inventors and manufacturers and others 
who desire good work, I unhesitatingly recommend 
you. 

Yours truly, 

F. W. MOSELEY. 



Syracuse, N. Y., January 16th^ 1885. 

E. B. Stocking, Esq , Washington, D. C, 

Dear Sir: — It has been a pleasure and great re- 
lief to do busihess with you. You take an idea so 
quickly, and see all the points that I really think 1 
am getting careless in sending descriptions, &c, 1 



6 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

have said to some of my acquaintances that when I 
got my case in your hands I dropped all care of it, 
and felt free to take up the next case, as I knew it 
would receive much better care than I could give 
it. I have several things on the stocks which I 
hope to have in yonr hands shortly. 
Yours truly, 

GEORGE A, VOLT ON. 



DELAVAN PECK, PRES'T. ALLEN CONKLING, TREAS. 

CHAS. ANGUS, SEC. 

Troy Laundry Machinery Co. Limited, 
iManufacturers of Laundry Machinery, and Deal- 
ers IN Laundry Supplies. 
Office 648 & 650 Fulton Street, 

Troy, N. Y., January 2M^ 1885. 

E. B. Stocking, Esq., Washington, I). C, 

Dear Sir: — As you are aware, quite a number of 
patents have been obtained on our line of machin- 
ery, and that we frequently have occasion to pro- 
cure searches and other information regarding pat- 
ents on subjects in which we are interested. For 
these purposes we have employed several solicitors 
and attorneys at various times. All the matters 
we have entrusted to you have been executed with 
a promptness and thoroughness highly satisfactory 
to us ] so much so, in fact, that all the business we 
have of this character is sent to you, without 
thought of employing any other party. 
Yours truly, 
Troy , Laundry Machinery Co,^ Limited^ 

CHAS, ANGUS, Sec. 



washington, d. c. 
The Haas Manufacturing Co, 



Philadelphia^ Pa.^ Januarn 2Md^ 1885. 

E. B. Stocking, Esq., 

Solicitor of Patents, 

615 7th Street, Washington, D. C, 
My Dear Sir: — It certainly affords me great pleas- 
ure to give my testimony as to the manner in which 
3^011 have conducted my business in the past two 
years, as my confidential adviser in all matters re- 
lating to my inventions. With an opportunity for 
judging, having employed other solicitors in for- 
mer years, I do not hesitate to say that the draw- 
ings and specifications made by you, I consider 
nK)dels of neatness and precision. Also that the 
specifications on several occasions contained sugges- 
tions that increased the value of my patents. And 
with the unbroken confidence existing between us, 
your thorough knowledge of mechanics and the 
patent law, I consider you my first choice over all 
other solicitors. 

Yours very truly, 

EDWIN HAAS, 



Brooklyn, N. Y., January 22nd^ 1885, 
E. B. Stocking, Esq., Washington,!) C, 

Dear Sir: — Having employed you as my attor- 
ney in patent matters, I take pleasure in recom- 
mending you to any who may require your services 
in that capacity as a gentleman worthy of their 
confidence, and one who prosecutes with ability 
and diligence any business entrusted to him. 

Yours trulv, 
FRANKLIN '^R. HOGEBOOM, 



8 E. B. STOCKING^ ATTORNEY, 

Albany, N. Y., January 28fh, 1885. 

Mr. E. B. Stocking, 615 7th Street, 

Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir: — I have learned through an extended 
and not altogether happy experience, many things 
relating to patent business. Among other things 
I have learned the paramount importance to an in- 
ventor or one commercially interested in patents, of 
a competent solicitor. It affords me sincere pleas- 
ure to testify to the exceptional perfection of your 
equipment in the following essential respects: pro- 
bity, thoroughness, mechanical ability, quickness of 
perception, a retentive memory, a full and exact 
knowledge of many mechanic arts and appliances 
as well as of patent laws, precedents, rulings and 
practice. 

It is needless to add that I trust my cases to you 
with entire confidence that through your agency I 
fihall receive the fulljst possible protection. 
Yours sincerely, 

r. S.. WILES, 



From Rev. Joseph R. Angel. 

E. B. Stocking, Esq., Washington, 1). C. 

Dear Sir: — I thank you for the prompt, courte- 
ous and successful manner in which you conducted 
the business of procuiing my patents. 

I can and will cheerfully recommend you to the 
attention of any of my friends ivho should need 
services of that character. 

Yours very trulv, 

JOS, E. ANGEL, 
Meshoppen, Penna., January 27th, 1885. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 9 

A Skilled Attorney a Necessity. 

The 17tli Rule of Practice in the United States 
Patent Office, reads in part, as follows: 

^^As the value of patents depends lar2;ely upon 
the careful preparation of the specification and 
claims, the assistance of competent counsel will, in 
most cases, be of advantage to the applicant, but 
the value of their services will be proportionate to 
their skill and honesty and too much care cannot be 
6Xdra5e(^ in their selection. The Ofi3.ee cannot as- 
sume responsibility for the acts of attorneys nor 
can it assist applicants in makinis; their selection. 
It will, however, be unsafe to trust those who pre- 
tend to the possession of any facilities except capac- 
ity and diligence for prosecuting patents in a 
shorter time or with broadeV claims than others." 

In the case of Miller & Co. v. The Bridgeport 
Brass Co., the Supreme Court of the United States 
Mr. Justice Bradley delivering the opinion of the 
court, said: * * * * ^'But it must be remem- 
bered that the claim of a specific device or combi- 
nation, and an omission to claim other devices or 
combinations apparent on the face of the patent, 
are in law, a dedication to the public of that which 
IS not claimed. It is a declaration that that which 
is not claimed is either not the patentee's inven- 
tion, or if his, he dedicates it to the public." 

The inventor '^must stand upon his claims for the 
thing is what the inventor claims and not what he 
shows If he states these too narrowly the law au- 
thorizes him to surrender the patent and reissue 
the same with ampler statements; but until this is 
done the courts cannot give him more than he asks 
for.'* 



10 . E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

Delaware Coal and Ice Co. v. Packer, 24 0. G., 
1273. (See Reissues page 10.) 

Ill Merrill ?;.Yeonians, C. D., 1877,281, the United 
States Supreme Court says: 

'^When a man supposes he has made an invention 
or discovery useful in the arts, and therefore, the 
proper subject of a patent, it is nine times out of 
ten an improvement on some existing article, pro- 
cess, or machine, and is only useful in combination 
with it. It is necessary, therefore, for him in his 
application to the Patent Office to describe that 
upon which he engrafts his invention^ as well as 
the invention itself, and in cases where the 
invention is a new combination of old devices 
he is bound to describe with particularity all these 
old devices, and then the new mode of combin- 
ing them, for which he desires a patent. It thus oc- 
curs that in every application for a patent the de- 
scriptive part is necessarily occupied with what is 
not new, in order to an understanding of what is new. 

^^The act of Congress, therefore^ very wisely re 
quires of the applicant a distinct and specific state 
ment of what he claims to be new and to be his in- 
vention. In practice, this allegation of the distinct 
matters for which he claims a patent comes at the 
close of the schedule or specification, and is often 
accompanied by a disclaimer of any title to certain 
matters betore described in order to prevent con- 
flicts with pre-existing patents. The distinct and 
formal claim is, therefore, of primary importance 
in the eflPort to ascertain precisely what it is that 
is patented to the appellant in this case. * * ^ 

"The growth of the patent system in the last 
quarter of a century in this country has reached a 



WASHINGTON^ D. C. 11 

stage in its progress where the variety and magni- 
tude of the interests involved require accuracy, pre- 
cision and care in the preparation of all the papers on 
lohich the patent is founded. It is no longer a scarcely 
recognised principle struggling for a foothold, but 
it is an organized system, with well settled rules, 
supporting itself at once by its utility, and by the 
wealth which it creates and commands. The de- 
veloped and improved condition of the patent law 
and of the principles which govern the exclusive 
rights conferred, leave no excuse for ambiguous lan- 
guage . or vague descriptions. The public should 
not be deprived of rights supposed to belong to it 
without being clearly told what it is that limits 
these rights. The genius of the inventor constant- 
ly making improvements in existing patents, a pro- 
cess which gives the patent system its greatest 
value, should not be restrained by vague and indefi- 
nite descriptions of claims in existing patents from 
the salutary and necessary right of improving on 
that which has already been invented. It seems to 
us that nothing can be more just and fair, both to 
the patentee and the public, than that the former 
should understand and correctly describe just what 
he has invented and for what he claims a patent." 

In this case the description and claims were so 
ambiguous that the invention covered by the pat- 
ent was held to be a process for producing a certain 
article, which article of itself was new, but which the 
patentee, it was held, failed to distinctly claim, and 
therefore he could not recover damages from the 
defendants for making that article by a different 
process, whereas, if the article had been distinctly 
claimed, he would have won his case. 



12 E, B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

^^Slight defects in a specification will sometimes 
render a patent void. For example, omitting to 
Btate the use of tallow which the patentee employed 
for facilitating the manufactm^e of steel trusses, 
Liardet v, Johnson, Webs.. Pat, Cas. 53, 

In a patent for a medicine, failing to state the 
proportions of the ingredients. Liardet v, John^ 
son, ante. Neglecting to state a material which 
more rapidly secured an effect. Wood v, Zimmer- 
Webs. Patent cases, 82, — ^failing to describe the 
manner of constructing and usino: the invention in 
such clear terms as to render experiment unneces- 
sary on the part of others skilled in the art to 
practice the invention, Kingz;. Arkwright, Webs, 
rat. Cases, 66-, failing to draw a claim for legitimate 
combination^, the claims being for mere nonpatent^ 
able aggregations. Double Pointed Tack Co, v. 
Two Elvers Man'fg Co. decided m the U. S. Su» 
preme Court, Nov 5th, 1883. 

'Many other and even more striking cases could 
be cited to show any reasonable inventor the neces- 
sity of employing in the first instance^ that is in the 
preparation and prosecution oi his applications, an at- 
torney of experienced skill in order to secure the 
broadest and most perfect protection of his exclu- 
sive rights. 

There is a class of so-called patent agents who 
undertake cases on the plan of ^^no patent, no fee," 
making their fee conditional on success. This plausi- 
ble, specious, manner of doing business will catch 
only those inventors who have very slight informa- 
tion in regard to patent matters. I do not desire 
to compete with such agents, aiid submit that a 
skillful preparation and prosecution of an applica- 



WASHINGTON^ D. C. 13 

tion has in view something more 'than to barely se- 
em^e a fee. 

General Information. 

Respectful attention to every inquiry is a rule re- 
quiring as particular observance by a patent attor- 
ney as any rule in any business or profession^ es- 
pecially where so larsre a portion of the business is 
transacted by correspondence, and although provi- 
ded with the speedy assistance of a short -hand 
writer or phonographer, and the nimble aid of type 
writers, I can give personal attention to the interests 
of my clients only l3y a strict observance of other 
rules of business just as arbitrary as that with which 
I open this section of *^Tlain Words About Patents.'* 

In fact, one of the main objects of this little book 
is to put in '^PLAIN words" — the ^^how," and as far 
as reasonable, the ^^why" of what you should know 
and do to protect your rights^ as an inventor, pat- 
entee, manufacturer, or as a man who is threatened 
m property and peace of mind by reason of some 
patent owned by others. 

General information I am pleased to give freely, 
and I have endeavored to make every subject 
touched upon in '^plain words'' so clear that any 
beginner in patent matters may understand it. But 
correspondents sometimes step from the bounds of 
general into that of special information. One class of 
inquirers are apt to ask questions, the answers to 
which require hours, if not days of searching the rec- 
ords of the Patent Office. For example,a correspon- 
dent in one State wants to know what Smith claims 
in his patent on a washing machine, or one from an- 
other State calls for a copy of each patent granted 
for a car-coupler. Of course, w^hen informed that 



14 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY^ 

there are at least three thousand patents in the lat- 
ter class of inventions and a larger number in the 
former, the impossibility of complying with such re- 
quests is realized. The examples given are extreme 
cases, though actually true; but it is not uncommon 
for wiser heads to propound questions involving an 
equal amount of labor and time. However, each 
receives proper attention, especially when the in* 
quiry is accompanied with a fee in recognition of 
and approximately commensurate to the service re- 
quested. 

I therefore use this little book by marking sec- 
tions thereof as a respectful answer to inquiries for 
general information, which is given without fee, 
and to indicate the divisional line between it and 
special information, as well as to give estimates of 
costs in ordinary cases, and if ^^plain words" should 
prove insufficient in any respect, you are requested 
to write for further information and your inquiry 
will receive prompt and cheerful attention. 

What is a Patent ? 

For and in consideration of a disclosure by any 
inventor (whether citizen or alien, man, woman or 
minor) of his or her invention, the United States 
Government provides by law, that it will upon cer- 
tain application, and payment of certain fees, se- 
cure to said inventor, his heirs or assigns for the 
term of seventeen years from the date upon which 
a patent is issued the exclusive right to mafe, to use^ 
and to sell the invention throughout the United 
States and the territories thereof. And the exclu- 
siveness of this right prevents all persons, as well as 
the Government of the United States and all of its 



WASHlKOTONj D. C. 15 

officers, from making or using or selling the invention 
without the consent of the inventor. The document 
issued by the Government as evidence of the abova 
rights is termed a patent. 

At the end of the seventeen years the patent ex- 
pireSj and the invention becomes public pi opert}^^ 
and can be freely practiced by any one. unless the 
patent is extended by a special act of Congress. 

How TO Invent* 

Don^t try to invent a road to the moon. Culti- 
vate observation. Study existing forms of things 
capable of use., ascertain their faults, and devise 
means for correcting them. Increase the produc- 
tive power of well established machines and meth- 
ods. Seek to increase valuable characteristics of 
articles and of substances either natural or artifi- 
cial. Devise less expensive methods of husband- 
ing natural products of the soil and of the mines. 
Transform into useful conditions that w^hich is, in 
the arts, condemned and cast aside as waste. 

The field is large and requires labor to which it 
grants rich reward, and yot ^tis true that invention 
often comes without a Warning. It is a ''happy 
thought," and is just as much entitled to the pro- 
tection of law as if it were the product of years of 
toil and large expenditure of means. 

What is Patentable* 

Section 4886 of the Revi^erl Statutes specifies 
four classes of patentable inventions as follows: 

^'Any new and useful art, machine, manufacture 
or COMPOSITION OF MATTER, or any new and useful im- 
provement of the same. 



16 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

The word ''art" means method or process; a way 
or manner of doing anything. An art^ method or 
process patent, covers the manner or process there- 
in claimed of accomplishing the result attained by 
the invention^ and this without regard to any par- 
ticular means, machines, tools or devices employed. 
An art patent relates to acts whether performed by 
hand or by the aid of chemical^ mechanical, electri- 
cal or other agencies. The Word ''machine" means 
a co-operative arrangement of mechanical elements 
which is capable of receiving and transmitting 
power^ and it includes any apparatus which is af- 
fected by or affects any substance submitted to its 
operation. 

The word "manufacture" means any article made 
by man and capable of use. 

The words ''composition of matter" mean any 
substance made up of ingredients as medicinal 
and chemical compounds or a material changed in 
its nature or form by treatment^, as for example, 
vulcanized rubber. Prom the above, it will be 
seen that j^our invention to be patentable must be of 
one of the above statutory classes. 

The same section of the law requires that your 
invention must be new and useful. "New" here 
means, not before known or used by others, and not 
previously patented or described in any printed pub- 
lication, and not in public use or on sale in this 
country for more than two years prior to tiling the 
application for a patent, and not abandoned, that is 
not given or dedicated to the public by express 
words or acts of the inventor, nor forfeited by his 
negligence in applying for a patent. 

The American inventor competes with the world. 



W^ASHINGTON, D. G, 17 



If the Patent Office Examiner who has charge of 
your application for a patent finds a description in 
iany published book or journal sufficiently clear to 
enable any person skilled in the art, to practice 
said invention, you are barred by law frona receiv- 
ing a valid patent therefor. 

The word ^^useful'^ means not harmful, capable of 
use for any purpose not against public policy. Play- 
ing cards and pistols, if novel, are patentable, al- 
though capable of unlawful use., they being also ca- 
pable of harmless use. 

There are many inventions falling properly with- 
in the statutory classes which are of questionable 
patentability, such as those involving the substitu- 
tion of one material for another, a safe rule, to sot- 
tie that question being that, if you have done some- 
thing new to that material to make it perform the 
functions of that for which you substitute it, you 
have made a patentable invention. The same may 
be said if you have adapted a machine or article to 
receive as a part thereof a different material, hut 
in this case the gist of the invention lies in the 
.adaptation rather than the mere change of material. 

Your invention and that of every other inventor 
is passed under review to determine its patentabili- 
ty, and many other questions require careful con- 
sideration. The tendency of the courts in later 
decisions is to require in every application and 
patent a full, strict compliance with every condition 
imposed by the statute. The public feeling has 
been, b3^ certain abuses of the privileges granted 
by law to inventors and patentees, incited against 
the patent system of the United States — a system 
founded on an original section of the Constitution; 



18 E, B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY^ 

a system that has added to the intelligeDce and 
wealth of our people as much if not more than any 
other provision of that document except that of a 
government controlled by the governed. Eveii 
representatives of the people here m Congress, by 
these abuses, have been stirred to advocate the 
repeal of existing patent laws; and it behooves 
inventors, manufacturers, and capitalists having 
property rights in inventions and in patents, to not 
only exercise judgment and skill in the preparation 
and prosecution of their applications for patents, but 
to exercise their infiuence against the advancement 
to the position of law-makers of persons holding 
sentiments of ill-will to the rights constitutionally 
dedicated to inventors and authors, * 

Can I Secure a Patent ? 

Having made an invention, the above is the first 
question which you ask, and that question includes 
the other which I have presented, viz., '^ What is 
patentable ?" 

Over three hundred thousand patents have been 
granted by our Government in its first century, and. 
these are arranged and classified in the Patent 
Office into twenty-eight divisions to facilitate the 
labor of examination, the divisional lines being 
founded principally according to the nature of the 
inventions. There is also provided by law as a part 
of the United States Patent Office one of the most 
extensive scientific and technical libraries in exist- 
ence, which is constantly growing, and which is 
daily referred to by the examining corps in their 
expert sea^xhes for anticipations of inventions set 
forth and claimed by applicants. There are in this 



WASHINGTON, D. C. - 19 

libraiy a complete set of drawings and descriptions 
of all the patents granted by the English Govern- 
ment during the past hco hundred years, and also 
copies of French, German and other foreign pat- 
e ;ts. The treatment of each application maj^ re- 
quire careful examination of all these sources of 
infoi'mation, and recent practice has been suggested 
wherein the Commissioner of Patents steps outside 
of the office and beyond these sources and into our 
factories, shops, and salesrooms to discover the 
public 21S3 or sale of inventions at a time more than 
two years prior to the filing of applications therefor, 
in order to refuse patents on that ground. 

You are privileged to make use, in person or by 
attorney, of these means at the hands of the Com- 
missioner and his subordinates, subject, however, 
to wise rules to prevent obstruction to a regular 
procedure of the business of the office, so that you 
or 3^our attorney may learn the state of the art and 
decide whether or not your invention is patentable, 
and whether or not you can secure a patent for the 
same, and this even before you have made formal 
application therefore. 

Years of experience as a member of the exam- 
ining corps of the Patent Office, followed by con- 
stant reference (in my professional duties to my 
clients)to the records and library thereof and to 
outside sources of intormation, have made me an 
expert searcher — one knowina' where and how to 
make examinations for all classes and kinds of 
inventions. 

I put the question to you: Is it for your best 
interest to undertake this work yourself, or to 
. employ a skilled attorney to act for you? 



20 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

By reason of my experience and skill I am en- 
abled to determine, after a casual examination of 
your invention, and to report to you, whether or 
not, in my opinion, I can secure for you a patent 
for the same, and for such a report I make no charge. 

Let me ^tate just here, and very clearly, that the 
above report (without search) as to patentability 
is the only service which I perform gratuitously. 
I can afford this much, as a physician can afford to 
give a diagnosis of a case, well knowing that his 
fee is paid in the chaige for the prescription or 
subsequent treatment. My report is but the ex- 
pression of my opinion —reliable, it is true; but I 
tell you plainly, that report does not cover all the 
fac'^s which every true inventor should know in 
regard to his invention. I report simply whether 
or not, i»i my judgn>ent, I can secure for you a 
patent. You should know if there are in existence 
patents for inventions similar to yours, and should 
be furnished with a copy of those having material 
bearing on your invention, and.be informed whether 
you would infringe said patents in making, using, 
or selling your invention, and approximately how 
broad and what claims you can secure, and upon 
what particular features of your invention, and, if 
necessary, what changes you ought to make to 
avoid infringing patents with which your invention 
would conflict. A report covering these facts can 
be made only upon a careful 

Preliminary Search and Examination, 

for which I charge $5, which includes co})ies (if not 
exhausted) of the nearest [►atents having material 
bearing on your invention. The Government price 



WASHINGTON^ B. C. 21 

for single copies of printed patents is 25 cents. My 
fee for the preliminary search includes the cost of 
such printed copies as are necessary to a clear, full 
report. 

By having a preliminary search you know before- 
hand, 1st, whether or not you can secure a patent, 
and, 2d, avoid the expense of Government and 
attorney's fees in case your invention is found to be 
anticipated, that is, old, and therefore not patent- 
able; or, 3d, facts are collected that will greatly 
aid in the most careful, skillful, and intelligent 
preparation and prosecution of your application, 
and the final securing of the broadest possible 
claims covering your invention in its largest nov- 
elty. 

There are two methods of presenting applications 
for patents. The first, and not desiiable method, 
is to present the case broadly, claiming everything 
without regard to the state of the art, and, in the 
subsequent prosecution of the case, submitting to 
rejections of the application by the Examiner, and 
finally ,by amendraent,gradually coming down to that 
which is new, and (perhaps by appeal only)securing 
that. (See Appeals, page 39.) 

This method pats upon the record of your case 
in the Patent Office many references to other simi- 
lar patents, thus ^^ clouding your title" and fright- 
ening would-be purchasers of your patent. 

(Every purchaser of a patent, if wise, sends for 
an expert opinion on the scope and validity of a 
patent before he invests his money in it. (See 
Opinions, page 57.) 

By the second and preferable method, your attor- 
ney first ascertains what features are new, and 



22 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

comes out of the office with few references or 
none, and with the broadest clainris for the actually 
new features. Your patent secured by the second 
method is better for another reason. Suppose, for 
example, your invention consists in making a pecu- 
liar fold,difrering but very slightly from a fold there- 
tofore made, in a sheet or blank of tin, in the 
manufacture of fruit cans, whereby j^ou secure a 
tight joint without solder, and save one per cent, 
of stock in each can. Now, as cans are made by 
the million, your invention is worth thousands of 
dollars to each can factory in the country where it 
may be used. Under the first method, the general 
tenor of your whole description, drawings, and 
claims would be as though you were the first to 
make any fold which would accomplish the saving, 
&c. Your patent, to the uninformed purchaser, 
would sound ''loud, large, and broad," but to the 
experienced manufacturer, who knows a patent when 
he sees one, and who is thoroughly conversant with 
all the ^'wrinkles" of can-making, and to a court 
having jurisdiction of your suit against an infringer 
of the patent, its loudness, largeness, and breadth 
shrink into nothingness when compared with the 
numerous patents cited as references and with 
sam.ple cans made in accordance with such patents; 
and, in nine of such cases out of ten, the court 
would decide that the very slight difterence in the 
fold does not amount to invention ^^n A would therefore 
declare your patent void for lack of patentable nov- 
elty over the patents cited. The court would say 
'^mechanical skill" alone would suggest the very 
slight change you have made. Now, if your appli- 
cation had been prepared with a clear, open state- 



WASHINGTON^ D. C. 23 

ment that folds somewhat similar had theretofore 
been made, and that the only diifereuce in your 
invention from previous constructions was the />^C2/- 
iiar fold specified^ by means of which you not only se- 
cured as tight a joint as of heretofore, but also saved 
one per cent, of the cost of each can^ which multi- 
plied by the millions manufactured made ^. vast 
sum, and was therefore a great benefit to the public, 
not only during the life of your patent^ but also for 
all time after it shall have expired, the court would 
without ,doubt consider the invention patentable, 
though verii slight in extent, and the patent as valid. 

This illustration is based on sound doctrine. 

In the U. S. Circuit Court of Southern Ohio. 
Justice Swayne, in the case of The Miller & Peters 
Manufacturing Co. i\ DuBrul, held that ^Hbe va- 
lidity of a patent is not determined by the degree 
of novelty or invention displayed, but it is suffi- 
cient if there exists some novelty and merit, how- 
ever slight. 

Who Makes the Application. 

Joint inventors are entitled to a joint patent; 
neither can claim one separately. Independent 
inventors of distinct iUiproveinents in the same 
machine cannot obtain a joint patent for their joir.t 
inventions. AVhere one furnishes the capital and 
another makes the invention, the inventor alone 
makes the application, while the patent, granted 
thereon, may be issued to both jointly. (See As- 
signments, page 52.) 

If an inventor dies, application for a patent may 
be made by his executor, executrix, administrator, or 
administratrix. In case of an assignment of the 



24 E. B, STOCKINa, ATTORNEY, 

whole invention before the patent or of the whole 
interestinthe patent, the application must be made 
by the inventor alone, if living. 

What Constitutes an Application, 

A petition signed by the inventor, a specification 
including a description of the invention, its construc- 
tion and operation, distinguishing what is new 
from what is old, and clear,delinite claims expressed 
l^n formal terms and complying with the law, rules 
and decisions governing practice, signed by the in^ 
ventorand attested by two witnesses ; an oath, re- 
lating to inventorship, public use and sale,and other 
facts regarding the invention, signed by the inven- 
tor and attested by the jurat signature and seal of 
a proper ofB.cer; drawings iUastrating the invention 
(in cases admitting of drawings) and when required 
a model, or in cases of composition of matter, sam^ 
pies of the same and of the ingredients thereof, when 
required. 

In signing your name alwotys write one given name 
in full,"as ^Sj'ohn " H. Smith or J, " Henry " Smith, 

Drawings, 

The law and rules (48 to 54) require ^^ Theapplif 
cant for a patent to furnish a drawing of his inven- 
tion where the nature of the case admits of it." 

These drawings in order to be capable of repro-. 
duction " by the photolithographic or other anala- 
goug process, must be brought as nearly as possible 
to a uniform standard of excellence.'' ( IJule 50.) 
Other rules prescribe certain technical and artistic 
requisites, which only experienced artists can meet, 

Rule 54 reads inpai't; ''AppUcgiuts ^re advised to 



WAsHiNaa^oN, D. d. 25 

employ competent artists to make their drawings." 
Drawings which fall below the standard will not be 
received by the Patent OiRce. 

All drawings furnished by me are prepared di- 
rectly under my own supervision and by my drafts- 
men, who are experienced in making Patent Office 
drawings^ and I guarantee the acceptance by the Of- 
fice of all drawings which I furnish. 

The charge for drawings is $5 for a single sheet 
and $4 for each additional sheet* One sheet is suf- 
ficient for ordinary cases* 

You will readily acknowledge the importance of 
furnishing not only artistic but clear drawings* They 
form a part of your patent, and skillful designing and 
judicious selection of different views, elevations and 
sections of the invention, will contribute in a great 
measure to the commercial value of j^our patent* 
Clear drawings also enable persons not skilled in 
mechanics (as, perhaps, some of our judges before 
whom drawings are brought in patent cases) to more 
readily understand the invention, and thus your 
rights under your patent are the more completely 
protected. 

In order to preserve the original drawings from 
injury in the mails that they may be accepted by 
the Patent Ofiice, when filed with the remaining 
papers constituting your application, I send you in- 
stead, ^'blue print copies;" which I make by a pro- 
cess of exposure, to the direct rays of the sun, of 
the original drawings on a sheet of chemically pre- 
pared paper. These copies are exact //.(? similss line 
for line, and letter for letter, except that the black 
lines of the original are white in the copy^ and the 



26 ^ E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

white paper of the original is represented by a blue 
paper in the copy. 

I make no charge for these copies, and if desired 
they may be retainefl by you» 

MODELS- 

Rule 55, Office Practice, reads in part as follows: 

^'A model will not be required or admitted as a part 
of the application until, on examination of the case 
in its regular order, the Primary Examiner shall find 
it to be necessary or useful." 

Generally, no model is required for filing in the 
Patent Ofiice, and none is absolutely essential in 
preparing your application^ but I am free to advise 
you that if you have or can make one, however 
cheapli/ made, it is of great use in preparing the ap- 
plication. IIov\^ever, in a very large majority of 
cases sketches, drawings, tin-types or photographs 
are sufficient. Always put the name of the 
inventor on the model in some permanent mannerj 
and when the application is allowed the model will 
be returned to you, {f so requested at the time of send- 
ing to me^ unless required hx the Office. Upon such 
request I mark the model " To be Returned," and 
place it in the closed cases of my office until the 
patent is allowed. By retaining the model it is 
ready for filing in the Patent Ofiice, in case the Ex- 
aminer should require one, as stated in the Rule 
quoted. 

The size of the model should be limited to one 
foot in length, breath and heighth, though this rule 
is not rigidly enforced. Even complete machines, 
such as sewing and knitting machines, Tj^pe-writers 
and Telegraphic Instruments.are preferred as models, 



I 



WASHINGTON^ D. C. 2/ 

when required. Improvements in machines may be 
illustrated by models of only the parts improved. 

Send your model by mail or express [charges pre- 
paid), (See Mailable Matter, page 29.) 

Time Required to Secure Patent. 

While some of the twenty-eight Divisions of the 
Patent Office are substantially up to date with their 
work, others are several months behind. This con- 
dition of the w^ork is the result of the lack of a force 
of Examiners, adequate to the number and charac- 
ter of the api lications tiled. The number of appli- 
cations are increasing every year, and are more 
largely than ever before in the history of the Office; 
such as require increased time and skill in their 
treatment. 

All applications are taken up for exammation in 
the order of filing; that is, if John Smithes applica- 
tion for a patent on a Harvester is filed complete 
in all its parts on the 10th of the month, and yonr^j, 
also for a Harvester, is filed on the 11th, Smith's ap- 
plication will, under the present practice, be exam- 
ined betore your application receives any attention. 
Again, Smith's application may be for an invention in 
Fire Engines, and will be reached in one month, 
while yours, being perhaps improvements in Looms, 
would not be reached in six uionths, if the Division 
having charge of that class of inventions were that 
much behind in its work. So that it depends upon 
the state of the work of the Division of the Patent 
Office to w*hich your case is assigned, as to how long 
it will take to secure your patent This matter is one 
entirely beyond your control or mire. The rule be- 
ing ^^ cast-iron" and without deviation except on 



28 E. B. STOCKlKa^ AMORKEY^ 

request of an Officer of the general Government^ 
and then only ^' when the invention is deemed of 
peculiar importance to some branch of the public ser- 
vice." (Rule H2, Office Practice.) 

No unnecessary delay shall occur on mj^ part, and 
the only remedy which inventors have is that each 
shall impress his member of Congress or Senator 
with the importance of urging legislation, looking 
to an increase of force in the Patent Office. As the 
inventors of this country by the Government fees 
which they pay, are putting a half a million of dol- 
lars into the Treasury every year, they have un- 
doubted right to demand that a portion at least of 
that suni shall be expended for their benefit. 
Bear this in mind^anduse your influence accord- 
ingly. 

A First Step Towards Securing a Patent. 

From what I have said, you will perceive that 
the first thing for you to do is to send to the fol- 
lowing address: 

E. B. STOCKING, AiVij, 
0pp. Patent Office, Washington, D. C. 

A rough drawings photograph, tin-type, model or 
full-sized machine or sample of your invention, and 
(if you desire a preliminary search and report^) $5 to- 
gether Vv^ith as much of a description as you think 
necessary of the object, pm^pose; use and operation 
of your invention. 

If you do not send the $5, you will get my report 
as to patentability, and I will honestly and clearly 
state whether or not in my opinion, a patent can 



29 

be secured; but you will not expect me to report on 
other matters whicti are incladed and covered in 
and by a formal preliminary search or examination. 
(Note. — The above address is given for mailing and 
express purposes. Personal visits though not at all 
necessary^ are always pleasant, and I therefore 
give my street and number^ viz : 615 Seventh Street, 
N. W.) 

Mailable Matter, 

Packages weighing not over four pounds, can be 
sent as merchandise, that is unsealed, so that the 
3ontents can be inspected if desired, by mail, for 
one cent for every ounce, so that as is quite custo- 
mary, small models and packages from cigar box 
sizes down are safely and promptly sent by mail. 
Larger modeh and machines are sent by express, 
charges prepaid, 

A Second Step Towards Securing a Patent. 

With my report as to patentability, if it states 
your invention to be patentable, I call upon you 
for |20 (to start the case) an amount e([Ual to the 
first Government filing or application fee, and 
$5, the cost of (one sheet of) drawing required by 
the Government. Upon receipt of $20, 1 immedi- 
ately order my draftsman to prepare the drawings, 
which is done under my personal supervision, and as 
soon as completed, the application (with a blue print 
fac simih of the di'awing)is mailed to you with full 
instructions for executing the same, and when exe- 
cuted, the papers are returned to mo for filing. My 
fee in ordinary cases is |25. If your case is not or- 
dinary, that is, if it involves in its preparation and 



30 E. B. STOCKING^ ATTORNEY, 

prosecution more than ordinary skill and labor, my 
fee will be increased in proportion, and stated \i\ 
my first report. All casjs are to be considered ordinal ;« 
unless at the time of making my report and call f o ■ 
the first Government fee and cost of drawings, Ire 
quire a larger fee. You will not incur any debt o: 
obligation without our mutual agreement as to what 
n^y fees are to be. I however, have one rule of 
business which I never deviate from, and that is, I 
never prepare an application until I have received at 
I \^£t |20 as before stated, to show good faith upon 
the part of the apphcant. 

Upon receipt of the application you should care- 
fully examine it, and return with it, and on a sepa- 
rate paper any changes or additions which yon wish, 
and I will cheerfully attend to the same. VVhen 
received, your application will be at once filed in 
the l^itent Olfice, and the official receipt thereof 
will be sent you as soon as received by me. 

In The Office. 

Upon reaching your application for examination, 
the examiner first looks to matters of form, and if 
he finds it informal in any material respect, no ac- 
tion will be taken upon its merits, that is touching 
the question of patentabilit}', until all material for- 
mal objections are removed. 

It is just at this point that persons who attempt to 
prosecute their own applications,meet with obstacles, 
and it is not unusual for unskilled " patent agents " 
to become entangled in the various rigid, yet wise 
requirements of the law, governing the granting of 
patents. Many applications for patents for valuable 
inventions are now lying rejected in the office sim , 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 31 

ply on account of informalities which by skillful 
treatment can be remedied and valid patents se- 
cured thereon. (See Rejected Applications, pao:e 34.) 

There being no vital informalities, your applica- 
tion is then examined upon its merits, and by a care- 
ful comparison of your invention with those similar 
to it, shown, (whether itemed or not,) in existing 
or previously granted patents, foreign or domestic, 
or described in any published work, the examiner 
decides whether or not he will allow you a patent 
with the claims as you present them in your appli- 
cation. 

In a very large mnfjoriti/ of cases, the application is 
rejected, the examiner usually specifying the claims 
w^iich in his opinion are not allowable, and citing 
as references certain previous patents or publications 
as anticipating your invention, as set forth in the 
rejected claims. 

Your attorney then reviews the application with 
copies of the patents cited before him. and either 
strikes out or withdraws the claims rejected thereon, 
or in writing alters or amends the terms ot the 
claims so as to make it for and to cover a different 
invention from that shown in the references cited, 
or he, in writing, refuses to alter the claims in any 
respect, and asks the examiner to reconsider his de- 
cision and allow the claims. This refusal to amend 
or cancel the claim is accompanied by an argument, 
in writing, setting forth the reasons for the refusal, 
and w^hy the claims should be allowed. 

The examiner thereupon again examines the 
claim in view of the reasons given, and he may allow 
said claims, or he may either modify, or insist upon 
and adhere to his rejection of the same. This course 



32 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

is pursued with each claim presented, and if your 
attorney still refuses to erase the claim, an appeal is 
necessnry in order to secure said claim. (See Ap- 
peals page 39.) 

It is undoubtedly of great advantage to invent- 
ors to employ attorneys who are right on the 
ground, as by personal interviews with Examiners 
explanations can be more expeditiously and clearly 
made than by long tedious correspondence. Very 
often written expressions, even in office letters, as 
well as in applications, amendments and arguments, 
are either vague or misleading when the idea 
sought to be conveyed can be readily set torth by a 
very few words at a personal interview. 

I deem it proper to make a statement at this point 
regarding the Examining Corps ot the office. 

Kejected applicants are either naturally inclined, 
or lead by unprincipled and incompetent, ^^ patent 
agents" to believe that the Examiners,frommere wil- 
fulness, delight to reject their applications. Nothing 
can be further from the truth. The Examiners as a 
class are inteUigent, competent, consciencious gent- 
lemen, who have, and are entitled to have, their 
opinions as to the clear requirements of the law and 
rules of practice governing them in their official 
acts, and they are as a class liberally inclined to 
allow inventors just as broad claims and as many of 
them, as in their opinion are permissible in view of 
the state of the art. The rights of previous invent- 
ors and of the public at large are entitled io care- 
ful consideration ,wl]ile the best interests of the re- 
jected applicants lie in a prevention of their obtain- 
ing patents with broader claims than they are under 
the law entitled to. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. S3 

Therefore, if an Exminer and your attorney dis- 
agree in regard toyonr application, the proper conrse 
is in the best of temper^ to take an appeal to the 
next higher tribunal, where three judges instead of 
one, hear and determine the appeal. Personal feel- 
ing has nothing to do with the matter, the reject- 
ion of claims, is entirely a matter of opinion, which 
only expert logical treatment, on appeal, can set 
aside and overcome. (See Appeals page 39.) 

After all informalities are corrected and the 
claims brought to a breadth mutually satisfactory 
to the Examiner and your Attorney, the applica- 
tion is allowed. 

It now goes to the Issue Division of the Office, 
where, a//^6r the final Government fee (which is in 
all cases |20.) is paid, the patent is prepared for 
issue. 

As there are from three to five hundred patents 
issued w^eekly, about twenty days after the payment 
of the final fee is required in which to print and 
otherwise prepare your application, (and all others 
to be issued in the same week) for issue. The pat- 
ent is therefore mailed to your address about twenty 
days after you pay your final fee. 

Printed copies of your patent, with copies of draw- 
ings attached can be procured in single numbers at 
twenty-five cents each, the regular Government 
price; and like copies of all other patents (when not 
exhausted) can be furnished you at the same rate. 
A deduction will be made, w^hen you order through 
me, five or more copies. 

When ordering copies of patents always give the 
number of the patent, or its date, or the name of 



34 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

the inventor and of the invention, and at least the 
year in which the patent was granted. 

If you send insufficient information, so that time 
is required to find, or ascertain the necessary data to 
procure copies of patents, a reasonable charge for 
such time will be added to the cost of the copies. 

Rejected Applications. 

Because you have received a letter from the Com- 
missioner of Patents informing: you that your appli- 
cation is rejected, it is by no means true, or to be 
understood, that you cannot secure a patent for your 
invention. 

Your case has been examined only by om oificial, 
while the law provides two other tribunals within 
the Patent Office to whom you can at a very reason- 
able expense, submit your case. 

I have, under the heading "In the Office," (See 
page 30,) indicated somewhat the treatment of ap- 
plications by the primary Examiner. 

If, after a skillful presentation of your case, and a 
clear exposition of its novel features and it sad- 
vantages in use, operation <)nd results, have been 
made, in writing and at personal interviews, (when 
permitted.) the Examiner refuses to modify or 
change his opinion and decision, you have further 
remedy by appeal (See page 39.) But appeals are 
not alwajjs necessary. My long experience in and 
out of the Patent Office, has enabled me to quickly 
and m a very large majority of cases corredbj deter- 
mine after an examination of your rejected applica- 
tion and the reference cited and reasons given by 
the Examiner for rejecting the same, whether I can 
secure a patent for you. 



I 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 35 

I can refer to a veiy large number of cases in which 
I have seen] eel patents on applications which have 
been rejected. 

I i>:enerally discover some new feature, some dif- 
ference in the construction, operation or advantages 
of the invention, w^hich has been overlooked by both 
the Examiner and the applicant. You can readily 
understand liow a conscientious examiner can mod- 
ify his opinion or even reverse his own decision in 
a case, if an entirely new feature is skilfully and 
clearly brought to his attention. 

It is undoubtedly a great advantage to have your 
attorney *^^right on the ground." In many cases an 
accidental meeting, in the office, between your at- 
torney and an examiner saves the time and labor 
of writing a letter. The examiner at that moment 
may have left his d^sk temporarily, with your case 
upon it and in course of examination, and with 
slight doubts as to the construction shown, described 
and claimed, or of the meaning intended to be con- 
veyed by certain expressions in your application, 
wdien he undoubtedly would ask your attorney for 
any desired information. It is an established cus- 
tom of some examiners to leave word at the '^At- 
torney's Koom" in the Patent Office Building for a 
certain attorney to call at his room, for corrections 
or amendments which, though necessary are hardly 
sufficient to cause delay in your case, (and in other 
work,) for the purpose of writing a formal letter. 

I think in view of the limited force and pressure 
of business this custom is to be commended. The 
Examiners who practice it are certainly among those 
who keep their Divisions well up to date in their 
work. 



86 E. B. STOCKING^ ATTORNEY, 

If 3^011 or any of your friends have a rejected 
application and desire me to examine the same, and 
to report to yon whether or not in my opinion I can 
secui'e a patent, send me $5. and a Power of Attor- 
ney in the followinoi; words: 

Hon. Comissioner Patents: — Please recognize E.B. 
Stocking, Washington, 1). C.;, as my attorney, with 
full power to amend in any manner required, my 

application No filed, on or about the 

day of , 188 , for a patent for 

I hereby revoke all previous powers of attorney 
granted in said application. 

Signed^ , , 

Inventor. 
Dated this day of ,188 . 

Note. — An assignee of the entire patent may sign 
the above, (Rule 20) m which case draw your pen 
through the word ^^Inventor" and write 'SSole As- 
signee." 

The blank spaces should be filled out as far as pos- 
sible. If you have anj^ letter from the Commis- 
sioner of Patents in regard to the application that 
letter will, or should give every fact necessary to a 
complete filling out of the blank spaces in the above 
form. 

My fee for prosecuting the application will be 
made known when \report w^ow the case, and it will 
be from $25 up; according to the amount of labor 
and skill involved in its further prosecution. Some 
rejected applications (especially those bad in form,) 
require re-writing entire while others require new 
or aditional drawings, and ail require a careful con^ 



WASHlNG'fON, D. C. 87 

sideration which involves a perfectly cleir under- 
standing of your invention in all its details as well 
as just as complete a knowledgo of the inventions 
disclosed by the references cited. Rejected appli- 
cations are also '^ clouded " by the fact that the ex- 
aminer has already arrived at a conclusion, but as 
before stated, if the requisite skill, attained only by 
being experienced, is put to work, success will in a 
majority of cases be achieved, and you will be put 
in possession of your patent and can proceed to prac- 
tice your invention or transfer your rights to your 
intended purchaser. 

One more point as to rejected applications. It is 
an actual fact that the courts have been led to sus- 
tain patents for slight inventions bjj reason of their 
allow^ance by the Commissioner after many adverse 
decisions. 

Abandoned and Forfeited Applications. 

An abandoned application is one which has not 
been completed and prepared for examination with- 
in two years after filing the petition, or which the 
applicant (or his attorney) has failed to prosecute 
(amend &c,) within two years after any action 
therein by the Commissioner of Patents, of which 
notice has been duly given (by oflfice letter,) or an 
application in which the applicant has filed a for- 
mal abandonment in writing. 

An application abandoned by reason of a failure 
to prosecute can, by proper practice, be renewed^ 
but a new oath, specification, drawing and fihngfee 
is required. The old model if suitable, may be used. 
(Rule 167.) 

Al forfeited application is one which has been 



38 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

once allowed, but because the applicant has failed 
to pay the Government final or issue fee within the 
time prescribed bylaw (six months from date of 
notice of allowance), the patent is withheld For- 
feited cases my be renewed by either the inventor 
or any person (as an assignee) having an interest in 
the invention. In forfeited cases a new filing fee 
and also the issue fee will be required to be paid 
to the Government. (Rule 170.) 

There is no reason to doubt that many valuable 
inventions are disclosed in the abandoned and for- 
feited applications now in the office, and you may 
be interested in one, either as applicant or assignee* 
In many ca^es fortunes have been made, by piir- 
" chasing tlie inventions of applicants of this class, 
who would not so cheaply part wi^h their -rights 
did they but know that there is a proper way pro- 
vided. of yet securing a patent. 

Never dispair of securing your patent until you 
have exerted yourself in every proper way. The 
courts and the Patent Office expect inventors to be 
persistent in their claims, and a failure to appeal 
against adverse decisions is held to be an indication 
of an intention on the part of the inventor to aban- 
don or deditatehis invention to the public. 

My fee for reviving abandoned and forfeited ap- 
plications is from |25 up according to the labor in- 
volved in each case. I will require Power of Attor- 
ney. ( See form for same, page 36,) and when received 
I will examine and report whether or not success is 
probable. You must remit v/ith the power of attor- 
ney $5, to cover charges for time required for exami- 
nation of the application and references cited, and 
for my report. 



WaSHINGTOj^; d. c. 39 

Inclose the power attorney and postal ordei^ or 
tiote with your letter to me^ as without the power of 
attorney I cannot see your application. The fee 
of $5 will also cover cost of copies of all references 
liecessary to a clear and fall report. 

Appeals. 

I never advise applicants to appeal from adverse 
ilecisions unless I beUeve there is a reasonable pros- 
pect of success. My reason for the above is that I 
do not wish to acquire a reputation in the appelate 
tribunals in and out of the Patent office of an at- 
torney who pleads ^^thin causes." 

I n^ver hesitate to ars^ue the merits of flight in- 
ventions provided such merits exist. 

You will not only be advised of my opinion as to 
ultimate success by appeal but you will receive at 
i'east the main points upon which my opinion is 
based, and a fair and most favorable statement of 
the facts upon which the Examiner, Board, or Com- 
missionel' relies. You can then exercise your own 
judgment as to whether you will authorize an ap- 
peal and bear the oxpeuse required in the matter of 
the Government and. attorney's fees. As herein- 
before stated, the courts regard with favor patents 
for doubtful inventions — that is, are loath to de- 
clare them invalid for lack of invention^, and the re- 
jected applicant is not only expected to appeal in 
regular order to the various tribunals, even to the 
court of last resort, but he is rewarded in the end 
by the faithful upholding of his patent when it is 
infringed. 

Upon a second and iinal rejection by the Primary 
Examiner of any of the claims set up in yoxxv appli- 



40 E. B. STQCklNG, ATl:OlliCE¥, 

cation, yon can take an appeal to the Board of Ex- 
^miners-in-Chief. There are three tneimbers of the 
Board, and they jointly hear and examine yonr ap- 
plication in so far as the rejected claims are con- 
cerned. They have no authonty to reject other claims 
which the Primary Examiner may have allowed. 

Each member of the Board is a gentleman of 
ability^ experience, and free from bias and prejudice, 
having no personal interest in any matter on which 
they are called to pass an opinion, and your great- 
est advantage before this tribunal is that you have 
three trained judges to appeal to instead of a single 
judge (the Primary Exaininer)^ and if you convince 
two of the three of the justice of your claim, suc- 
cess is won. Furthermore, if you convince but one 
member of the Board, your case is still in good con- 
dition to take to the next higher tribunal, that is 
to the Commissioner in person, who may, and often 
does, reverse the adverse decisions of both the 
Board and of the Primary Examiner. 

The Government appe^al fees are as follows : 

Frjm the Primary Examiner to the Board, $10 5 
from the Board to the Commissioner, $20. 

My fees are — • 

Appeal to Board, $15 and upward; appeal to Com- 
missioner in person, |20 and upward, according to 
the nature of the invention^ whether simple or 
complex, and the labor and skill involved in the^ 
case. 

If you desire me to examine and report upon 
your rejected case, send power of attorney (se€^ 
page 36) and $5, and I will promptly inform 3'ou of 
prospects of and reasons for or against success. 



washington. d. c. 41 

Reissui]S, 

Reissues are granted to original patentees, their 
legal representatives, or to the assignees of the en- 
tire interest, when, by reason of a defective or in- 
sufficient specification the original patent is inoper- 
iitive or invalid, provided the error has arisen from 
inadvertance,, accident or nii^take^ and without 
^ny fraudulent or deceptive intention, (R, S.^ sees. 
4895 and 4916,) 

A skillfully prepared and prosecuted original ap- 
plication rarely, if ever, requires a reissue of the 
patent granted thereon. 

To indicate to you the importance of employing 
la competent attorney in the preparation ancl prose- 
cution of your original application, as well as the 
absolute necessity of trained skill in securing a re- 
issue, and some of the difficulties attending this 
branch of patent practice, I believe nothing better 
can be done than to present a summarized statement 
of recent rulings of the courts. 

Heretofore the privilege of reissue has been so 
a<bused that in the U.S. Supreme and Circuit Courts 
our judges have, in my opinion, and that of every 
other judicious friend of the patent system of the 
country, wisely drawn the lines to the conditions 
and limits laid down in the law, and although many' 
manufacturers have been obliged to be more cautious 
in regard to .c »n testing their rights based on re- 
issued patents, yet I believe no class of investors in 
patented inventions are more largely benefitted by 
the recently adopted course of the courts than these 
s^me manufacturers, while inventors as an entire 
class, together with the public at large, have been 
ip(Jucated up to a piore clear understanding of their 



42 E. B. STOCKING; ATTORNEY^ 

rights. It is exceedingly fortunate for all concerned 
that our judges have withstood the ravings of prej- 
udicial, pi-i'atical opponents of property rights in 
inventions as vouchsafed in the constitution and 
laws of this country, and have based all their de- 
cisions and all their requirements of inventors and 
patentees upon an entirely just, and even liberal 
construction of the laws governing the granting of 
patents. 

The \vords " inoperative or invalid " in the statute 
authorizing reissues means inoperative or invalid in 
whole or in part. Hartshorn vs. Eai>;^e Shade Roller 
Co., et ciL, decided Oct. 11th, 1883^21 O. G., Holl- 
and in the same case the Court (Judge Lowell), U. 
S. District Court, Mass., says: ^^A delay of more time 
than would be reasonabl}' sufficient to read the pat- 
ent and ascertain its need of amendment, should be 
accounted laches in a case where enlargement of a 
claim is the only amendment." 

It has been intimated, however, by the U. S. Su- 
preme Court, that they regard two year^^ as the 
natural limit of delay in analogy to the provisions 
of law respecting the public use of an invention. 
The right to have corrections made by reissues may 
be abandoned and lost by unreasonable delay. 
(Turiell vs. Bradford, et al, decided Mar. 22, 1863, 
23, 0. G., 1623.) and in that case the reissued patent 
being much broader than the original, was declared 
void. The law provides and allows reissues for cor- 
rections, but not for alterations. Generall.y speak- 
ing, the invention covered (although more perfectly) 
by the reissue, must be the same as that set forth as 
novel, in the ori2;inal. In Doane & Wellington 
Man'f'g Co., v. Smith, decided Dec. 27th, 1882, 



WASHINGTON, D. C. ^ 48 

(24 0. G., 302,) the Court, Jndge Wheeler, says: 
'• If the description of these parts had only heen 
more fall and particular in the reissue, or if distinct 
fund ions of the parts not before mentioned had 
been newly set forth, or functions before mentioned 
had been wholly omitted, so long as the devices and 
their mode of operation as described remained the 
same, the reissue might not be avoided for showing 
a different invention, although it might be for the 
enlargement of the claim after such a lapse of 
time." 

If your patent has not been in force more than 
two years (some exceptional cases may permit of a 
longer time), you should examine it carefully and 
see whether or not it is faulty, and if so, immedi- 
ately take steps for its correction by reissue. My 
fee for reissuing a patent depends upon the char- 
acter of the invention and the circumstances sur- 
rounding the case. 

The preparation and prosecution of reissues in- 
volves a thorough knowledge of the state of the art 
gained, by experience, and by examination of all 
previous patents, foreign and domestic, and an inti- 
mate acquaintance with the recent decisions of the 
courts and of the Commissioner of Patents, 

The prelimii.ary examination and written report 
as to the advisability of reissuing a patent and as 
to the probability of securing the reissue, is noth- 
ing less than an opinion as to the scope and vahdity 
of the original patent, involving an amount of labor 
varying with the character of the invention, and 
in addition to a like opinion as to the scope and 
validity of the reissue, and of each division thereof 
if made, when secured, * My fee for sach services 



f4 E. B. STOOKIN'G, ATTORKETT, 

is $25 and upward, and if a reissue is found to be 
advisable and thei'efore prosecuted^ a separate attor- 
ney's fee for the preparation and prosecution of the 
reissue application is required, and where niorethao^ 
one reissue application is based on the oriii:hial pat- 
ent, a separate Government filing fee, and a separ- 
ate attorney's fee are required in each division ^ 
thoug^h I usually modify my fees in accordance with 
the numi)er ot* divisi )ns made. 

The Government tiling fee is $30 for each reissue 
and for each division No issue fee is required by 
the Governmeut. 

Interferences; 

An ioterfence is a proceeding instituted for the 
purpose of determining which one of two or more 
parties claiming substantially the same invention is^ 
entitled to a patent for such invention. 

It sometimes happens that two or more parties 
have applications pending, at the same time in 
which the same invention is shown, described^ and 
claimed hy each. In view of the thousands of ap- 
plications filed each year it is a great wonder that 
more interferences do not occur than is actually the 
fact. 

The general outline of an interference maybe 
stated briefly as follows: 

John Doe and Kichard Roe apply for a patent for 
an invention which each has independently made. 
Doe may reside in Oaliforniay and Roe in Maine^ 
and both may be truly an original inventor, but the 
law authorizes the Comniissioner to grant tlie pat- 
ent only to the first and original inventor, hence 
both cannot receive the patent. 



I 

I 
I 



D. c. -45 

Doe and Roe are each required to iile a prelimi- 
nary statement;, nnder oath, giving the history of 
his invention. The care and skill in preparing this 
document becomes manifest, in many cases, after it 
IS too late to remedy the fatal results of a badly 
drawn preliminary statement. 

A reasonable time is given Doe to summon wit- 
nesses for examination under oath^ touching any 
facts going to show that he, Doe, first conceived of, 
disclosed to others, and reduced to actual use, the 
invention in controversy, while at the same time 
and place. Roe, or his attorney, cross-examines Doe 
and his witnesses in or ler to get at the exact truth 
as well as the actual accomplishments of Doe. 

Another date is set for Roe to establish his date 
of conception, disclosure and reduction to practice, 
when and where Doe's attorney is present to cross- 
examine. Other dates are also set for taking testi- 
mony in rebuttaU if either desires. Another date 
is set for each to file their (printed) testimony and 
briefs, exhibits, sketches, drawings, models and 
n>achines, and to submit briefs and argument be- 
fore the Examiner of Interferences. The Examiner 
of Interferences has no authority to decide any 
other question than which is the^r^^ and reasonably 
diligent inventor, and he decides this question on 
the evidence filed and argument submitted. 

There probably is no branch of patent practice 
which calls for greater ability in an attorney than 
the successful conduct of a case through an in- 
terference proceeding. A knowledge of mechanics, 
of the principles of mechanical equivalents, jointure 
of inventorship, the relation of employer and em- 
ployee, the principles governing public use and 



46 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

abandonment, the rules of evidence, and the code 
of procedure established by law in such cases and 
enforced by courts of equity, and numerous tech- 
nical matters usually attending litigations, are all 
essential to uniform success. 

This being the nature of an interference proceed- 
ing, and the requirements of a successful result 
thereof being so positive, it is unnecessary for you 
to be further convinced of the necessity of having 
your interests represented by a thoroughly compet- 
ent attorney. I can give special references to cli- 
ents for whom I have conducted important interests 
through contests of this character. 

It is by no means a settled question or fact that 
you cannot secure a patent for your invention sim- 
ply because another person has secured a patent for 
the same. If you believe that you are the fi'^st in- 
ventor you should make an application for a patent, 
and request an interference with such party, when, 
although the Commissioner cannot annul the patent 
already granted, he can and will (upon satisfactory 
proof that you are the first inventor, and that you 
have not been guilty of negligence in securing your 
rights) grant you a patent also for the same inven- 
tion, thus putting you and the other patentee on an 
equal footing before the public and the courts. 

The expense of interference proceedings varies 
from |100 upwards, according to the extent to 
which they are carried before the facts are put 
upon record which are sufficient to settle the ques- 
tion of priority of invention, the number of parties 
involved, the remoteness of places in which testi- 
mony is required to be taken, and the time required 
of, and labor involved upon, your attorney. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 47 

I usually charge $25 for preparing and filing 
the preliminary statement and reporting the full 
status of your case at the (oflficially regulated) time 
that the statements of all the parties to the con- 
test are opened, examined and approved by the 
Examiner of Interferences, before which time they 
are not opened to inspection by the parties or their 
attorneys. In this report I give you the dates set 
up by every contestant, to which, by the rules of 
practice, he is restricted thereafter (unless he ob- 
tains consent to amend his preliminary statement, 
for which the rules also provide). I also render to 
you a written opinion, giving facts and reasons 
therefor, which will enable you to judge of the 
propriety of continuing the contest. I also clearly 
and honestly state whether or not, in my opinion, 
you will in the end succeed in receiving a decision 
of priority in your favor, and consequently a patent 
covering: the invention in controversy. 

I have said enough to convince you that if your 
invention does not possess intrinsic, manufacturing, 
or commercial value, an interference should not be 
contested. 

On the other hand, the failure to proceed at least 
to the filing of your preliminary statement would 
seem to be an act of negligence on your part if your 
invention has any value whatever. 

Furthermore, where others promptly contest the 
question of priority, it is a reliable indication that 
theinvention is of a value far greater than the ex- 
pense of the controversy, and where there is no 
question as to its value, no inventor need sufiTer loss 
of his case for lack of funds to contest it, as manu- 
facturers and capitalists understand too well the 



48 E. B STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

advantasces inherent in patents secured by contest 
to lose an opportunity of securing an interest or 
control of the same by refusing to advance tlie 
necessary expenses of the contest, 

Caveats. 

The object and effect of a caveat is to give a cer^. 
tain limited protection to an incomplete invention, 
m order that the inventor may take further time 
to complete the same. 

The ^^ protection *' that a caveat gives is simply 
an official notice from the Commissioner of Patents 
of any application, which may be filed by another 
during the life (one year from the date of filing) of 
the caveat^ for an invention like that embraced in 
the caveat; and if such notice is received, the cav:^ 
eator mnst,in a limited time, complete his inven-. 
'tion and bear the expense of an interference pro- 
ceeding, before a patent can be granted to any 
party. 

If you wish further time to experiment and de? 
vise subsidiary means to render your invention com-?? 
plete and operative^ then a caveat is the proper 
means of protection. 

If your invention is not patentable, your caveat 
will (according to the present practice of the oflSce) 
be received and filed in the secret archives of the 
oflSce, and you will receive no notice if any applica- 
tions are received for the same invention, because 
those applications will be rejected on existing pat^ 
ents or other references or reasons. Hence you will 
be paying $10 a year /or nothing ; therefore your in-, 
vention must not only be incomplete, but alsoj^aif 



» 



I 



WABtiiNG'tON; D. C. 49 

JPreliminary Examination (see page 20) should be 
taken advantage of^ even if your invention is in- 
completej as it will disclose whether it would be 
well to expend the Government fee for a caveat^ or 
for a formal application when the invention is com- 
pleted. 

The Government fee ($10) is renewable each 
j-ear; my fee is $15; both payable in advance. No 
model lequired. 

You can send a rough sketch and a full descrip- 
tion of the invention, together with the fees, when 
papers properij prepared will be returned (usually) 
by return mail for execution^ and when said papers 
are received by me, the caveat will be promptly 
filed. 

Design Patents. 

In a certain sense this is a special branch of pat- 
ent practice, requiring apt judgment and discern- 
ment as well as artistic taste, and manufacturers of 
textile fabrics, pottery, jewelry, silverware, type) 
stoves, and, in fact, all articles of manufacture 
which appeal to the eye^ and which are constantly 
changing in form, know the commercial advantages 
of securing that perfect protection on which a skil- 
fully worded specification and claim provides. The 
proceedings to secure design patents are substan- 
tially like those had in mechanical applications. 

The existence of thousands of design patents 
hitherto granted render preliminary searches as to 
novelty necessary in order that fruitless expendi- 
ture in Government and attorney's fees may be 
avoided and adequately broad claims secured to 
protect your design in its whole novelty. 



50 E. B. STOCKING, AtT0K:^M-5 

I require either a drawing or photograph of your 
design^ or a sample article from which drawings 
may he made, or what is preferable^ eleven un- 
mounted photographs (not exceeding 7 by 11 inches)^ 
and $5 to pay for the preliminary examination or 
search as to novelty and my report thereon. If your 
design is found patentable, the necessary papers 
will be prepared and transmitted to you for execu^ 
tion in accordance with instructions which will ac* 
company them. You then return the papers to me 
with the Government fee^ $10, for a 3 J years^ pat^ 
ent ($15 for seven years and $30 for fourteen years), 
and with niy fee for preparing and prosecuting the 
case before the Primary Examiner^ $15. Your ap- 
plication will be filed and carefully prosecuted, and 
as s )on as the patent is allowed and received from 
the Government^ it will be forwarded to you. 

Note.— If drawing is to be made by me from the 
article itself, or from your dr.awing^ an additional 
charge of at least $5 will be made. It is therefore 
less expensive for you to furnish eleven unmounted 
photographs, . 

Trade-Mauks. 

Atrade-markis a distinctive nonclescriptive name 
or symbol^ or both^ employed to in dicatethe source 
or manufacture of any article of merchandise to 
which the mark is applied. 

The United States Supreme Coiirt has declared 
the Trade-mark Act of July, 1870,unconstitutionalj 
and the thousands of marks registered under its 
provisions should be7e-registcred under and in accord- 
ance with the provisions of the act of March, 188L 

As' it is unlawful to use any trade-mark registered 
in connection with any similar class of goods, a pre- 



WASFIINGTON, D. C. 51 

liminary examination and report should always be 
had, showing whether or not your mark is regis- 
terable* 

My fee for search, examination, and report, is $5, 
and it may save you the expense of a formal appli- 
cation for registration, the Government fee being 
f 25, and my fee from $10 to $15, according to the 
labor involved and the expense of illustrating the 
case. 

The term of registration is thirty years, and may 
be renewed for thirty years more. 

Words merely descriptive of the article^ or the 
f- name of the manufacturer, or iirm cannot be regis- 
tered as a trade-mark, nor can a trade^mark be pro- 
tected by a copy-right. 

To be valid in foreign countries trade-marks must 
be registered according to the laws thereof. By 
foreign registry manufacturers secure a monopoly 
of the goods in foreign markets. (See page 58.) 
Send me $5, eleven copies of your mark, name, 
residence, place of business, and citizenship of the 
party, firm or corporation, with names of officers, 
name of goods to which mark has been or is in- 
tended to be used, length of time it has been used 
if any, and the name of any forei,G:n country or 
tribe of Indians with which sales and (some) ship- 
ment of the goods have been had. Foreign trade 
under the law is requisite to give validity to regis- 
tration.) If the mark is not found to have been 
previously registered for similar goods, the papers 
will be at once prepared and transmitted for your 
execution of the same, and upon return of the 
papers and the Government fee, $25, together with 
the required attorney's fee, the application will be 



52 E. B. STOCKlNa, ATTORl^EY. 



at once iiledj and prosecuted with all possible prompt- 
ness. 

Labels. 

Prints and labels are printed slips to he attached 
to manufactured goods^ and may be distinguished 
from trade-marks from the fact that their matter 
may be descriptive of the article, and may embody 
the manufacturer's or dealer's name. The term of 
registration is twenty-eight j^ears. 

Entire cost, including Government and attorney's 
fee, is 111. I require your name and residence, six 
copies of your label and $11, and when these are 
received will prepare the necessary papers and send 
them to you for your approval and execution. 

Copyrights. 

The protection of a copyright applies to books^ 
maps, charts, engravings, photos, chromos, statuary, 
and similar works of art. I secure copyrights at a 
cost of $5, which includes the Government fee. In- 
formation as to the necessary requirements will be 
made knoAvn on application. 

Assignment and Title Searches. 

Every patent or any interest therein, and any in- 
vention before patenting, may be, in whole or in 
part, assigned by an instrument in writing. 

Any instrument which amounts to an assignment^ 
grant, conveyance, mortgage, lien, incumbrance, or 
license, or which effects the title to the invention or 
patmt should be recorded in the Patent Office within 
three months from its date. The resitlt of the 
above provision of law is that there is in the Pat- 
ent Ofdce a Division, having charge of the record-^ 



WASHINGTON. D. C. 98 

Jng of the documents named, and in order to ascer- 
tain the present owners of patents and of rights 
under patents, a caretul search of the record books 
is required. 

No properly cautious business man will invest his 
means in patents without first demanding an ab- 
stract of title to the same, and he also must have 
confidence in the correctness of any search upon 
which that abstract is founded. A searcher must 
know the manner in which the records ai*e made up^ 
and must exercise close attention lest transactions 
recorded be overlooked^and there be rights outstand- 
ing under a patent which the purchaser supposes 
to be wholly his own. To one who invests large 
sums not only in the patent but in the ^^plant" neces- 
sary in practicing the invention covered by the 
same, such an oversight in the search would be fatal 
to the entire investment without further outlay to 
secure, if possible, the rights prev^iously assigned to 
others, which cannot always be done. 

The above is sufiftcient to show you the necessity 
of reliable searches^ and I can apply beneficially the 
experience of years and knowledge of the record 
system of the Patent Office in making preliminary 
searches fortified by abstracts property certified as to 
correctness by the Commissioner of Patents. 

My fee for searches and abstracts of titles is from 
$5.00 up according to the time involved. I require 
that fee, and either the number of the patent or 
name of inventor and of the invention with the 
year (at least) in which the patent was gran ted, and 
on receipt of same I will inform you whether an in- 
creased fee will be required. The older the patent, 
^ncl the greater number of transfers of right3 under 



k 



54 E. B. STOCKING^ ATTORNEY. 

itj the larger the fee for making abstract of title. 
Ordinarily the cost will not exceed $5,00. 

Documents. 

Contracts for the disposition or control in whole 
or in part of rights to inventions before patentings 
and of patents, such as agreements, assignments, 
licenses shop rights &c., are important to render 
your patent a paying one. 

You are aware that your patent gives you the ex- 
cViisive rights of making^ using and sAling the inven- 
tion covered by it, and successful patentees owe 
much to their attorneys for advice and counsel, as 
to the disposition of these rights in such manner as 
to yield the greatest income. It often happens that 
by judiciously drawn documents, these several rights 
are so manipulated that large income is derived 
without actually parting with the title of the pat- 
ent iteelf, while again the uses of inventions for /xzr- 
ticular purposes only, oftentimes opens new sources of 
income. 

I do 7iot S3tl or purchase patents, but when I have 
clients whose interest I have reason to Relieve it 
would be, to purchase any patent, I do not hesitate 
to direct their attention to the same. 

Stock and Other Companies. 

The provision of properly drawn documents for 
the organization and incorporation of stock and 
other companies for working a patent, and searches 
and reports looking to the collection of other pat- 
ents in any particular art, is a field for the services of 
a competent counsel 



55 

Too little regard to existing: patents other than 
the one possessed or purchased l)y parties intending 
the Formation of a conipan}' for practicing the in- 
vention covered thereby, often exposes invested 
capital to a material shrinkage, when, by a judi- 
cious preliminary search and report of the exact 
etate of the art and of the real scope of the purchased 
patent, not only may shrinkage be avoided but large 
profits and complete control of the market can be 
obtained. 

In the present advanced state of the patent sys- 
tem of this country, judicious investors are not to 
be found without their regular counsel ; and in pat- 
ent matters it is now customary, as well as economy 
eal, to command by permanent salary or retainer, a 
competent adviser, skilled in patent law and prac- 
. tice, and conversant with the art involved. 

The references given on page 1 are sufficient for 
general purposes. I will upon request furnish special 
references to parties with whom I sustain the rela- 
tion above indicated. It being my rule, to act and 
represent but one firm in a particular line of inven- 
tions, special correspondence with only a limited 
number of parties can be favored with a view of 
establishino; further like relations. 

You cannot fail to understand the value of a rep- 
resentative, bound to your interests, who is pres- 
ent at the seat of the General Governnjent, and 
who has access to the entire public records of the 
Patent Office, and to Committees of Congress taking 
cognizance of patent matters, and whose knowledge 
of the rules, regulations, methods of doing business, 
and the Officials of the Patent Office, has been ac- 
quired by personal accjuaintance, and formerly by 



56 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORlSrEYj 

actual participation with said Officers in the per- 
formance of the duties devolving upon members of 
the Examining Corps. 

Such a representative looking for new develop- 
ments and keeping thoroughly posted as to the past 
and present state of the art in which you are en- 
gaged, and in which your property lies, certainly is 
not only a wise provision but is in reality a neces- 
sity of your business interests. 

Expert Searches akd Opinion. 

I can give special reference to clients who have 
been saved the payment of large sums as royalty, or 
as damages, for alleged infringment, through ser- 
vices rendered by me at a comparatively nominal 
expense to them. 

A client desires to know, if, in making, using or 
selling a machine like one shown in a drawing, pho- 
tograph or patent^ of an article like a sample fur- 
nished, he infringes a c^r^am patent, giving its num- 
ber o-r date. Another wishes to know whether he in- 
fringes any patent by manufacturing an article for 
which he has or has not^ as the case may be^ a pat- 
ent. Another wishes to learn all about patents now 
in force ou a particular class of machines. Another 
wishes to know all that is old and shown in expired 
patents on certain machines, or in any particular 
art. Another desires full and complete informa- 
tion to be found in all patents, forei,a'u or domestic, 
expired or in force, relating to a class of inventions. 
Another desires counsel and advice touching a pat- 
ent suit, in which he prosecutes or defends. 

In all these and numerous other cases, a reliable 
expert search, and an opinion, in writing, founded 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 57 

thereon, is the very foundation on which all action 
should be based. 

I have been able in many instances of being 
able, by ray expert knowledge of how and where to 
search, to establish, even to the satisfaction of their 
possessors,the utter wortMessness of patents on which 
they based claims for damages. 

It is but just to state that in later years the Mem- 
bers of the Examining Corps are far more skilled 
and thorough in their examinations of applications 
for patents than in the earlier years of the Patent 
Office, and therefore the percentage of patents 
granted for inventions lacking the statuary require- 
ments of novelty, is at the present time, exceed- 
ingly slight. But, this increase in thorough scrutiny 
by no means Avarrants the assumption that every 
patent granted is anything more than prima faciei 
evidence of the actual novelty of the invention. 
Again^ the boundless ingenuity of the American In- 
ventor makes actual commercial and manufactur- 
ing worth and value, out of slight changes in form 
and construction, and the attorney of the times 
makes broad sounding claims v^hile the courts are 
becoming expert in mechanical matters^ and show a 
marked tendency to restrict claims by construction 
and by a comparison with previous inventions, to 
exactly what the invention is or was for which the 
patent was granted. So that, not only the question 
of novelty but those of construction, mechanical 
equivalents, valid or invalid forms of claims, the ef- 
fects of a reissue, jointure of invention, public use, 
mechanical skill, and many others are raised, 
considered and decided, in order to determine the 
rights of the inventor, and those of the public 



58 E. B. STOCKING, ATTORNEY, 

as well as the penalties of the infringer. The day 
has come when intelligent men, whether inventors, 
capitalists, or manufacturers, employ and consult 
counsel in patent matters as readily as for all time 
intelligent men have in matters of health consulted 
their physicians. Special training and experience 
are demanded as much in the one case as in the 
other. 

Foreign Patents, 

American inventions find a ready sale in foreign 
countries^ and this whether you secure foreign pat- 
ents for your invention or not, but in the latter case 
the ready sales put money into other pockets than 
your own. 

Most foreign countries which have a legalized pat- 
ent system, require the filing of an application for a 
patent before any other appearance of the invention 
therein, and grant the patent to the introducer^ 
whether he is the inventor or not, so that it is 
not uncommon for persons in foreign countries to 
manufacture, use and sell American inventions as 
soon as they receive the United States Oflftcial Ga- 
2;ette, (which is published each week, and contains 
one or more figures of the drawing, if any, and all 
the claims granted in every patent.) These are 
sometimes sufiiciently elaborate and full to enable 
any one skilled in the art to practice the inven- 
tion, and thus work to invalidate any patent which 
is thereafter secured in such country. You should 
therefore apply for foreign patents before the U. S. 
patent issues. Again the laws of some foreign coun- 
trjies require you to apply for a patent therein be- 
fore appl^ang in other foreign countries so that in 



WASHINGTON^ D. C, 



59 



order to secure valid patents in several foreign eonn- 
trieSj the several applications must be filed in cer- 
tain order. The rales of practice before foreign 
countries are complicated and rigidly enforced, and 
this fact with others touching duplicate, triplicate, 
and in some cases several sets of application papers 
and drawings,render the prosecution of foreign pat- 
ents an undertaking requiring more than ordinary 
skill and care. In the courts of Great Britian, an 
English patent having one invalid claim, is wholly 
invalid, while under our laws the patent may he 
held valid as to the remaining claims. This princi- 
ple of English patent law is sufficient to show you 
the necessity of employmg an experienced attorney 
in preparing and prosecuting your application for 
English patents, and the technical requi ements of 
all foreign laws make necessity of the same qualifi- 
cations of parties pursuing privileges or remedies 
thereunder. 

There are countries which grant patents with a 
liberal hand, but which fail in their judicial tribu- 
nals to give any sort of protection to the rights of 
the patentees. None of these countries are men- 
tioned in this book. There are other countries 
which grant and protect their patentees, but they 
are not mentioned because of a lack of demand for 
improvements in the arts and sciences, the general 
ignorance of the mass of the people thereot and 
the excessive expense attending the grant of the 
patents. 

I have yet to experience a failure in my foreign 
practice, which has extended over ten years, and in- 
volved the protection of many valuable inventions. 
All foreign applications prosecuted by me are pre- 



60 E. B. STOCKING^ ATTORNEY, 

pared by me personally and under my direct super- 
vision, and are not ^ent to foreign countries to be 
written up by persons uneducated in tlie art to 
which the invention belongs. 

The fees, attorney's and Government, for any 
country^ (whether in the following list or not J will 
be given on application^ and my fees will be modi- 
tied in accordance with the character of the inven- 
tion^ number of sheets of drawings, length of speci-^ 
fication (on account of charges for translation into 
foreign languages when necessary) and the number 
of countries in which applications are tiled. Esti- 
mates will be given on any lists presented, I have 
representative^ in oyer thirty foreign countries, and 
can assure you of satisfactory results. It requires 
from two to eighteen months to secui^e foreign pat^ 
ents. Canada is the only foreign country that vd-, 
quires a model. 

The report of the U. S, Consul in Germany ex- 
pl-ains the tendency of foreigners to reap the benefits 
of American inventions and the reason for the lack 
of a live.y deniand for American machines and im? 
plements. 

" The reason," the consul states, *• is principally 
due to the fact that owing to the carelessness of our 
inventors in not taking out patents for their inven- 
tions in the several countries, imitations of all our 
principal machines are manufactured in Europe, 
rudely^ it is true, but at less cost^ and so fill up the 
piarket which the original machines would occupy 
were the latter protected by Letters Patent in the va^ 
rious countries.'' After citing several cases in which 
this has been done, the consul further states: " If, 
tbei'^fore^ American inventors desjre to introduce 



WASlIli^GTO^f, t). c. 6l 

their machines in Europe they must secure patents 
in every country in which they propose to operate^ 
simultaneously with their security in the United States 
even before the inventions are described in the press 
or publicly exhibited^for, although European inven- 
tors may not be possessed of the inventive genius of 
the American^ European manufacturers are quick to 
apply American inventions to their own proiit." 

CAKADA. 

A Canadian patent covers the Provinces of Ontario^ 
Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Col- 
umbia and Manitoba. Population, 4,000^000; area^ 
622,990 square miles. Term^ 5 years, extensible to 
10 and 15 years by payment of $20 before expiration 
respectively of the 5th and 10th years. Patentee 
must not refuse to work the invention if the public 
interest demands it and a fair compensation is of^ 
fered. Model required. If invention has been for 
more than a year previously patented in any other 
country^ a Canadian patent cannot be granted. 

GREAT BRITAIN* 

A British patent covers England, Ireland, Scot^ 
land, Wales and the Channel Islands Population^ 
85,000,000; area,- 122,511 square miles. Term, 14 
years. Tax of $242 at close of third year; tax of 
$484 at close of seventh year. Inventions must not 
have been publicly known in the realm at the time 
of the application; No requirements as to working 
the patent. 

FRANCE. 

Population 38,000,000; area, 203,738 square miles; 



62 E. B. STOCKINa^ ATTORNEY^ 

term 15 years; annuities^ $20. Patent must be 
worked within two years, and not afterwards cease 
for two consecutive years; unless^ in either case, such 
inaction can be justified. 

GERMANY, 

A German patent covers Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, 
Saxony and Witrtemburg. Area, 179,587 square 
miles; population, 34,305,358; term, 15 years; an- 
nuity $13.20 for second year, and increasing by same 
amount for each subsequent year. Invention must 
not have been described in any printed publication 
or publicly used in Germany at the date of applica- 
tion. Patentee must endeavor to work the patent, 
and must not refuse licenses upon adequate compen- 
sation when the public interest demand the use of 
the invention. 

Information regarding other foreign patents will 
be cheerfully given upon request. 

Foreign Trade-Marks. 
Manufacturers are just beginning to realize the 
benefits of foreign trade -marks. They now see that 
the registry of their mark in a foreign country is in 
eftect a patent on their production, insofar that no 
person can apply a similar mark on similar goods in 
that market. The common practice of foreign (no- 
tably the French, German and English) manufac- 
turers to secure heavy trade and a practical monopoly 
of the sale of their wares at home and in the United 
States by attaching trade-marks of others for their 
home trade and by registering ^Aot trade-marks here, 
is being overcome by our manufacturers of machin- 
ery, wares and merchandise, by registering their 
marks abroad for foreign trade. 



WASHINGTON, D. 0. 6^ 

In most countries having. laws governing the reg- 
istration of trade-marks^ the rights of the registrant 
are faithfully protected by severe penalties inflicted 
\ipDti any unlawful use of the mark. 

Attorney's fees made known on application, and 
modified in accordance with the number of cases 
prosecuted. 

The registration of trade-marks can be secured in 
the following countries: 

Great Britain, France, Germany Belgium, Aus- 
t^o-IIungary, Italy, Russia, Serbia and Spain. 



Table of Fees. 

Note. — My fee, the attorney's fee stated belowy 
is for ordinary cases. Each case is considered " or- 
dinary," unless (by reason of its being complicated, 
diflScult to prosecute, requiring an appeal, or other- 
wise requiring unusual labor and skill), I notify you 
of any increase of the attorney's fee over that stated^ 
below. Mj application fees do not include my fee 
for an appeal. In no caise will you be called upon 
for more than the ordinary attorney's fee, unless you 
have been duly notified of a larger amount required. 
The fee for my services in all matters, will be made 
known before you incur any expense. 

In cases requiring more than One sheet of draw- 
ing $4 per sheet will be charged for each additional 
sheet. 



64 e. b* stocking, attorney, 

Patents, (Mechanical, &c.) 

First Government or tiling fee.. ,. |15 00 

JJrawing 5 00 

Attorney's fee ' 2*5 00 

Final Government or issue fee 20 00 

Total cost, (see ^^ First Step," page 28) $65 00 

The final or issue fee is not required until the ap* 
plication is allowed. 

Eeissues. (See page 41.) 

Government or filing fee. (No issue fee.). . $30 00 

Drawing 5 00 

Attorney's fee 40 00 

Total $75 00 

Note. — If a patent is reissued in two or more di- 
visions, the Government filing fee of $30 must be 
paid for each division, as two or more separate ap- 
plications will be required. I usually modify my 
fee in accordance with the number of divisions. 

Design Patents. (See page 49.) 
(government or filing fee, (for 3 J year.) No 

issue fee ... .^ ' $10 00 

Attorney's fee 15 00 

Caveats. (See page 48.) 
Government or filing fee. (No issue fee.)... .$10 00 

Drawing , .*«. 5 00 

Attorney's fee 10 00 

Trade-Marks. ( See page 50. ) 
Government or.filing fee. (No issue fee.). . $25 00 
Attorney's f^e 10 00 



VvASHlNG'loK, D. 0. 65 

Labels. (See page 52.) * 

Government or filiDg fee. (No issue fee.). . $6 00 

Attorney's fee 5 00 

Copyrights. (See page 52.) 

Attorney's fee (including Government fee.) $5 00 
Appeals. (See page 39.) 

From Primary Examiner to Board of Exam- 

iners-in-Chief $15 00 

From Board of Examiners-in-Chief to Com- 
missioner , 20 00 

From Commissioner to Supreme Court Dis- 
trict of Columbia — 

From Commissioner to IT; S. Circuit Court^ - •' - ■ — - 






A First Step toward Securing a Patent. . page 28 

A Second Step toward Securing a Patent.. 29 

Abandoned and Forfeited Applications 37 

■Appeals 39 

A Skilled Attorney a Necessity 9 

Assignments and Title Searches 52 

Can I Secure a Patent 18 

Caveats 48 

bpyrights , 52 

(Designs 49 

Documents 54 

Dra wings 24 

Expert Searches..,,*, •..••- 56 

Fees 63 

Foreign Patents 58 

Foreign Trade-Marks 62 

General Information 13 

How to Invent 15 

Interferences 44 

In the Office 30 

.abels 52 

arable Matter 29 

odels 26 

Power of Attorney 36 

Preliminary^ Searches or Examinations... .. . 20 

Printed Copies of Your Patent 33 

Reissues 41 

Rejected Applications. 34 

Stock and other Companies 54 

Table of Fees 63 

Time required to Secure a Patent 27 

Trade-Marks 50 

What Constitutes an Application 24 

What is a Patent , 14 

What is Patentable 15 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 973 414 3^ 



Fiit^t ^iep towaM ^Bearing 



.^\. 



-^TEinsTT- 



Sendto E. B. STOCKING, Att'y, opp. 
U. S. Patent Office, Washington, D. C, 
(never mind street and number) a 
rougli sketch, drawing, tin type, pho- 
tograph, or, what is better, a model, 
^however cheaply made) by mail, (if 
under four pounds), or by Express, 
charges prepaid, with a short de- 
scription of tbe invention, its object, 
operation and advantages. See Pre- 
liminary Searches, page 20. 




